


fractured

by Rethira



Category: X/1999
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-20
Updated: 2012-07-20
Packaged: 2017-11-10 08:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/464191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rethira/pseuds/Rethira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days, Seishirou doesn't see Subaru at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fractured

Some days, Seishirou doesn’t see Subaru at all.

When he’d killed Subaru, he hadn’t thought about this. He’d imagined Subaru, his forever, tied to him by strings Subaru wasn’t strong enough to break. He’d thought of taking what was left of Subaru to visit the Tree on macabre picnics, of using his onmyoujitsu to chain Subaru to his house, to his very room if necessary. He’d imagined slaughtering the other Dragons while Subaru watched, denying victory to either side, just so he could continue with Subaru.

Instead, he has a flickering image. He has a half heard voice. He has Subaru with one green eye watching him sullenly from a corner one minute, then sobbing in the kitchen the next. He has a Subaru who disappears for hours at a time, who can’t walk across a room without moving in a terribly disjointed fashion. He has a Subaru who still goes out to see his Dragons, and who seems to not even recognise Seishirou half the time.

_Run_ , Subaru says on occasion. Seishirou will be able to see darkness tugging at the edges of Subaru’s image, red and fire bleeding into him from somewhere _just_ beyond Seishirou’s sight, and he will leave the house locked and warded.

On those days, he’ll come home to claw marks on the walls, blackened ofudas and the distinct sense that he’s just missed a terrible battle.

Following such incidents, Subaru always seem to lose some of his stability. His already flickering image will become even worse, and his voice tends to break even more. He’ll look desperate and cling to Seishirou, then suddenly leap up and flee, through ofudas that should hold him but don’t.

He appears to Kamui and his other precious Dragons. The first time had been a shock to them all; Seishirou had made sure Subaru was locked up tight, and yet there he was, standing between Kamui and Kamui.

“Didn’t do a very good job, did you?” Monou asked, sneering slightly.

_g o  
_

a w

  
ay

Subaru’s voice had crackled like a burnt out radio, his image blinking in and out wildly. Monou had laughed, and Kamui had grit his teeth and set his feet and then Subaru-

_sttttt  
_

o p

__Subaru’s voice had been tinged with things Seishirou didn’t want to name, so he had set down between Kamui and Kamui and had reached for Subaru’s pretty face.

_No_ , Subaru had said. The first clear thing he’d managed to say all day. _Not you_.

They had, eventually, come to an amicable parting. To a certain extent, at any rate. None of the Dragons, Earth or Heaven, had wanted to allow Seishirou to waltz off with Subaru’s ghost, but Subaru had been quite insistent. Not even a Kamui could harm him where he was now, which was perhaps the most curious thing of all.

Mostly, Subaru seems to lurk in Seishirou’s house. On the bad days, Subaru will look right through him, and move across the room in his strange fashion, only to wrap his skinny arms around something Seishirou cannot see. On the worse days, he’ll look Seishirou in the eye and tilt his head just so and ask, in a child’s voice, _who are you?_ On the days Seishirou prefers not to think about, he’ll wake to find Subaru staring down at him, his blind eye dripping blood, and Subaru’s hands on Seishirou’s skin. Subaru’s hands are icy cold, so cold they almost burn, and he’ll move through and around whatever clothing and blankets there might be, trying to get what he wants.

And then when he has it, Subaru will stare at Seishirou and flicker and fade out.

_I’m not_ , Subaru begins one day. He’s image snaps away, suddenly, and it’s like it’s sucked all the heat of the room away with it.

Another day, perhaps a week later, Subaru pauses in the middle of a jagged movement across the room, and looks at Seishirou.

_wron  
_  


gtime

His voice is scratchy, like an old record, and then Subaru’s gone again. He returns only a few hours later, and he folds himself up in the chair next to Seishirou and doesn’t say a word. The next day, Seishirou goes out to fight over a kekkai, and he’s almost expecting it when Subaru is suddenly standing between him and his prey.

_right_  
n  


o t

__Subaru looks somewhat frantic, so Seishirou, against his better judgement, reaches for him-

And suddenly there is a wealth of fire and darkness and blood spreading from Subaru, great claws seeming to gouge into the earth around them. Seishirou jumps back – he can hear the Dragon, a little girl, screaming about something – and watches.

_Run_ , says a voice not quite Subaru. _Please run. I can’t stop it anymore. I’ve tried. I’m sorry Seishirou-san. It’s so hard._

The roaring inferno that Subaru can’t seem to keep in check any longer burns down a great many of the buildings within the kekkai – there is no lasting damage, of course.

Subaru stops flickering after that. He turns morose instead, and won’t talk for any reason at all. He never leaves the house, and simply sits in a corner, alone and barely there.

_let me go_ , Subaru begs one night, just as Seishirou is on the verge of sleep.

“Never,” Seishirou replies. He goes to sleep with a smile and never sees Subaru again.


End file.
